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“Let Me Be Forgotten”: Nadine Gordimer Responds to Q&A in The Guardian

Nadine Gordimer is one of the latest respondents in The Guardian‘s Q&A series which features, among other substantial personalities, Twiggy and Derren Brown.

Gordimer, who launched her latest novel, No Time Like the Present, at Exclusive Books Hyde Park this week, tackles the questions with the ease of someone who has answered them all before. However, she still asserts that her “most unappealing habit” is her tendency to give “sharp answers to intrusive people.”

While we’ll go to great lengths to remember our cultural icons and preserve their history, Gordimer says rather poignantly, “let me be forgotten”:

When were you happiest?
Camping in the bushveld with my man.

What is your earliest memory?
Turning round on my seat at a pantomime, my first time in a theatre, aged about three.

Which living person do you most admire, and why?
Nelson Mandela. The epitome of courage and intelligence.